Globe looking for partners for independent cell tower

Ayala-led Globe Telecom is in talks with independent third parties for the establishment of a tower company to help speed up the deployment of cellular towers.

Globe is looking at divesting all or part of its tower assets to independent tower companies as part of its network expansion and optimization plan. It currently has over 8,000 cell towers nationwide.

“We have been allocating over 30 percent of our total revenues to capital expenditure for the past five years and this level will be sustained over a period of time. An independent tower company will be a win-win solution. It will monetize assets for capex use and help maintain our consistent dividend policy,” said Ernest Cu, president and CEO of Globe.

“In addition, this greatly helps President Duterte’s initiative to open the telco industry to new players. The plan is for these towers to be open for lease to new and existing players. This effectively lessens the barriers that a new entrant has to endure because they will not have to spend the capex to build towers and instead focus on rolling out the necessary network equipment.

Cu said this significantly reduces the time needed for a new player to roll out given the 25 permits and up to 8 months required to build one cell tower.

“Our move is also consistent with our position of being open to more competition in the telecommunications industry,” he added.

The tower companies generally want multlple operators to locate in these towers. This effectively reduces the cost for all locators and increases the return for the tower company. Globe will work with them in determining the appropriate locations for all prospective towers.